Rick Hill is the Valero Alamo Bowl’s VP of Marketing and Communications. Prior to the bowl, Rick spent 6 years working for the Spurs, one season with Missions Baseball and two fruitless months trying to sell season tickets for the S.A. Riders.

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Great Coach, Better Person

It’s often said the greatest improvement for a college team is between Week #1 and Week #2. Oregon State’s defense hopes that is the case after wasting a 37-43 and 422 yard passing performance from their quarterback Sean Mannion in their 49-46 loss to Eastern Washington.

After getting to know the Beaver players and coaches during last year’s Valero Alamo Bowl, it was a tough game to watch made tougher as I read a Lindsay Schnell article chronicling a turbulent 2010 and 2011 for Oregon State Head Coach Mike Riley off- and on-the-field.

In this story (and the follow-up). Riley discusses a a number of things he’s never said publicly to Schnell, a writer for The Oregonian:

I forwarded it to the five Valero Alamo Bowl staffers and volunteers who spent the most time with him last year. Amazingly, the first three replies I received to these well-done stories were almost identical: Great coach, better person.

During Bowl Week last year, one of Oregon State’s sports information staffers told me if he had a dollar for everyone that told him he was a “friend” of Coach Riley’s he could retire tomorrow. I believe it.

Riley was head coach of the San Antonio Riders football in 1991-92 where I worked an unsuccessful stint as a commissions only ticket seller. The team won more games in 1992 than I sold season tickets. That meant I could either pay rent or eat so I jumped to the San Antonio Missions. That year was also Riley’s last with the Riders as the World League folded sending him to USC as their offensive coordinator.

“He was a supremely nice guy and terrific coach to cover. We got to be friends and I learned that he liked the same Texas music that I did – acoustic stuff mostly. Before he and his family packed up for USC, I made him a couple of cassette tapes that had some of my favorite tunes.

I maintained contact with him, but not very much. One of the best trips I got to make was visiting his school before the Valero Alamo Bowl last year. He made a lot of time for me, basically gave me free reign with all of his players and assistants. Then I went back and talked to him in his office. At the end of the interview, he told me that he wanted to show me something. Sitting on his desk were the two tapes I had made for him 20 years ago. He said he was still listening to them, although he said he had gotten his kids to download them on his iPad for him, too.”

Opening weekend losses to FCS teams do not always doom a team to a tough year. A good case in point is the 2007 Michigan squad whose season started with a loss to Appalachian State and ended with a Capital One Bowl win over Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators squad.

Riley will coach them up and if you’re not sure about his quality of his character watch the video below to see what he told his players when they were selected to play in the Valero Alamo Bowl. Great coach, better person.